'Two Photographs' by Dannie Abse

The poem...

Here's a photograph of grandmother, Annabella.
How slim she appears, how vulnerable. Pretty.
And here's a photograph of grandmother, Doris.
How portly she looks, formidable. Handsome.
Annabella wears a demure black frock with an amber
       brooch.

Doris, a lacy black gown with a string of pearls.
One photo's marked Ystalyfera 1880,
the other Bridgend 1890.
Both were told to say, 'Cheese'; one, defiant, said 'Chalk!'

Annabella spoke Welsh with a Patagonian accent.
Doris spoke English with a Welsh Valleys' lilt.
Annabella fasted - pious, passive, enjoyed small-talk.
Doris feasted - pacy, pushy, would never pray. Ate pork!
When Annabella told Doris she was damned
indecorous Doris devilishly laughed.
I liked Doris, I liked Annabella,
though Doris was bossy and Annabella daft.
I do not think they liked each other.

Last night I dreamed they stood back to back,
not for the commencement of a duel
but to see who was taller! Now, in these revived
waking hours, my Eau de Cologne grandmothers
with buns of grey hair, of withered rose,
seem illusory, fugitive, like my dream -
or like the dust that secretively flows
in a sudden sunbeam (sieved through leaky curtains)
and disappears when and where that sunbeam goes.

Of two old ladies once uxoriously loved,
what's survived? An amber brooch, a string of pearls,
two photographs. Happening on them, my children's
grandchildren will ask 'Who?' - hardly aware
that if this be not true, I never lived.

Commentary...

This poem is about the speaker looking at "two photographs" of his grandmothers. He compares them both as very different to one another, however he liked them equally.

Grandmother Annabella is described as quite delicate as she's "slim", "pretty" and "vulnerable". Whereas Doris is portrayed as the opposite, she was "formidable", "portly" and "handsome". The poem is quite comical and light-hearted, "both were told to say, 'Cheese', one, defiant, said 'Chalk!'".

Further differences are described between the two grandmothers, "Annabella fasted - pious, passive, enjoyed small-talk" suggesting that she was strictly religious and easy-going. Whereas "Doris feasted - pacy, pushy, would never pray. Ate pork!" suggesting that Doris didn't follow the Jewish religion and was more of a bold and perhaps controversial person to be around. Despite the differences, the speaker "liked" both grandmothers equally.

In the speaker's dream about his grandmothers, they're described to be more similar than previously in the poem. The grandmothers were like "withered rose", this could suggest that although old, and with flaws, they are both still two beautiful people to the speaker and mean a lot to him - parallelling with the phrase that 'every rose has its thorn'. The grandmothers are "like the dust that secretively flows in a sudden sunbeam...and disappears when and where that sunbeam goes". This suggests that they will never be completely be forgotten, as dust is always there, memories will come back of them in a "sudden" manner, however their significance has been reduced down to the significance of dust, suggesting that's all that's left of them.

The two grandmothers were "once uxoriously loved", however all that's left of them is "an amber brooch, a string of pearls, two photographs" - material objects. This suggests that the speaker may be feeling like there should be more physical things left behind to show the love that was felt for them. However, love is obviously not an object so cannot always be seen, maybe the few objects that are left will be very sentimental to the speaker because that's all he has to show for his grandmothers. The speaker seems to find it hard to believe that his "children's grandchildren will ask 'Who?'" about his grandmothers, showing how really we're only significant in our life time and a short while after, when the people who loved us die, so will the memory of us. This reminds me of Larkin's poem 'Ambulances' that death is the "solving emptiness", reinforcing that after all the love and all other emotions felt for a person, when they die they'll be empty and after a while all they'll be is a name on a grave stone. It also made me think of in Larkin's poem 'Here', at the end where the speaker is looking out to sea and appreciating being alone, it made me think of the significance of the rest of the world compared to one person, how one person's life has very little effect on the rest of humanity.

Another Larkin poem which this poem reminds me of is 'Wild Oats' as both poems compare memories of two women and were triggered by a photograph. Also, 'Home Is So Sad' by Larkin links to this poem in the sense that when we die, all that's left is people's feelings for us and our possessions.'Mr Bleaney' could to link to this poem in the same way, as the house described in that poem defined the person, just like the possessions the grandmothers have left partly define them.